Sir John Fryer
The Lieutenant-General Sir John Fryer 1838-1917, who presented to the school, in 1908, the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, was a true Winburnian. His father John, a twin, was born to William Fryer, banker, and Elizabeth Gulliver, daughter of Isaac Gulliver the notorious but later reformed smuggler.
Sir John studied at Exeter College, Oxford and entered the army in 1860 as a Cornet in the 6th Dragoon Guards, the Carabiniers. and commanded the regiment in 1877-1882 during its operations in the 2nd Afghan War. In 1903 he was made Knight Commander of the Bath.
The Fryer family was engaged in banking in Wimborne, as part of "Fryer, Andrew & Co", which since the 1770s, had played a large role in financing the Dorset merchants, shipowners, and planters involved with Newfoundland. Later this became the "Wimborne Poole and Blandford Bank" and eventually National Provincial Bank – now RBS.
They were also among the Poole merchants operating in Newfoundland, Gosse Fryer and Pack owning 40 ships.